194 FOX-HUNTING 



they must have occasionally seen hounds run fast 

 with it on the horizon. My ideal day would be 

 without a blue mist, or a haze of any kind ; a 

 grey sky looking down on a clear landscape, with 

 the fences outlined black and sharp against the 

 green of the fields ; then a gentle breeze should 

 be blowing, cool and damp, from any other point 

 of the compass except the west. Such is the day 

 I would choose for hunting, and very probably it 

 would turn out to be the worst scenting-day of 

 the season. 



An approaching storm will destroy scent, and 

 when the squall has passed it will be as good as 

 ever again. We know that the fermentation of 

 milk is caused by a bacillus, and yet a thunder- 

 storm will cause milk to turn sour in a few 

 minutes. May not the scent be swallowed up 

 by the numerous bacteria in the air, and may 

 not the storm hasten that result in the same 

 way it does with milk ? The writer of yf« Essay 

 on Hunting (already referred to) has brought the 

 suggestion into my mind, and I must therefore 

 give him the credit. His chapter on scent should 

 be read by those interested in the subject. 



It is impossible to lay down fixed rules for 



